Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [3]
01 The Jordaan • The Jordaan holds many of the city’s most diverting secondhand and bric-a-brac shops – and some of its prettiest canals.
02 Bloemenmarkt • Masses of colourful blooms for sale, including – of course – tulips.
03 Coffeeshops • Nowhere else in the world can you smoke high-quality dope in such comfortable – and legal – surroundings.
04 The Begijnhof • The fourteenth-century Begijnhof is one of the quietest and prettiest corners of the city centre.
05 The Grachtengordel • The elegant bends and handsome canal houses of the city’s seventeenth-century extension are what makes the city unique.
06 Concertgebouw • One of the finest concert halls in Europe, attracting some of the biggest names in classical music and opera.
07 Brown cafés • Amsterdam is famous for its brown cafés – dark, cosy and very traditional.
08 Koninklijk Paleis • Co-opted by the Dutch royals but originally Amsterdam’s town hall, this building speaks volumes about the city during the Golden Age.
09 Anne Frank Huis • The museum created in the Secret Annex – home to Anne Frank and her family for two years during World War II – is the city’s most moving sight.
10 The Vondelpark • The leafy Vondelpark, with its ponds, footpaths and colony of parrots, is the city’s most attractive park.
11 Van Gogh Museum • The world’s most comprehensive collection of the artist’s work – simply unmissable.
12 Queen’s Day • Amsterdammers let their hair down on Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag), the city’s biggest and wildest municipal knees-up.
13 Oude Kerk • The city’s oldest and most venerable church, slap-bang in the middle of the Red Light District.
14 Indonesian food • Fill up on Amsterdam’s ethnic food speciality.
15 Amstelkring • The last of the city’s clandestine Catholic churches now holds a fascinating museum.
16 The Eastern docklands • The city’s most resurgent district, with some of its coolest bars and restaurants, and landmark contemporary architecture.
17 Cycling • Get around the city like a local by renting a bike for the day.
18 Proeflokalen • Served ice-cold, jenever, the Dutch version of gin, is the nation’s favourite spirit, and these “tasting-houses” are the traditional places to sample it in its various flavours.
19 The Heineken Experience • Although this is no longer a working brewery, the compensation is an excellent museum devoted to the art of brewing – with a few beers thrown in along the way.
20 Rijksmuseum • The city’s greatest museum – featuring everything from paintings to furniture and applied arts – is undergoing restoration, but you can still see the best of its paintings in the Philips Wing.
Basics
Getting there
Arrival
Getting around
The media
Travel essentials
Getting there
UK travellers are spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding how to get to Amsterdam. There are plenty of flights, from all over the UK, and taking the train through the Channel Tunnel is just as easy – not much cheaper, but almost as quick. Bus travel is probably the most affordable option; and by car, deals for drivers on ferry routes into Dutch and Belgian ports are particularly competitive. From North America and Canada the main decision is whether to fly direct – easy enough as Schiphol is a major international air travel hub, served by dozens of short- and long-haul airlines – or to route via London, picking up a budget flight onwards from there. From Australia and New Zealand, all flights to Amsterdam require one or two stops on the way; from South Africa, direct flights are available.
Getting there |
Flights from the UK and Ireland
Amsterdam is one of the UK’s most popular short-haul destinations, and you’ll find loads of choice – in carriers, flight times and departure airports. Aside from the major full-service carriers (KLM, British Airways and BMI), there are plenty of no-frills airlines operating flights to Amsterdam, including EasyJet, BMIbaby, Transavia and Jet2.com, as well as a few business-oriented,